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Diablo News Archive
This page contains an archive of all the old news items regarding the Diablo series. Please keep in mind that the Diablo News column contains news from September 1, 2008. As such, you probably won't find anything before Diablo III was announced here: August 2009 ;August 28, 2009 *Bashiok clarifies some questions about Zombie Dogs, previously called Mongrels. ;August 27, 2009 * Bashiok post in five threads: :*Firstly, he confirmed that the the monster at the end of the Monk trailer was the Morlu Caster. :*He also responded to a poster that believed that Seven-Sided Strike was overpowered in the demos shown. :*He confirmed the presence of Magic Find in Diablo III. :*He addressed the communities concern about the cinematic which announced the Monk :* Lastly, Bashiok said that the female Monk was not seen so far because she is still in development. ;August 26, 2009 * Interview with Jay Wilson and preview at G4tv.com ;August 25, 2009 * Bashiok posts on skill effects and development time and the Hellfire Monk * Interview with Jay Wilson at Wired.com ;August 24, 2009 * 12 minute gameplay footage of the Monk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31VpcWV2R9E * Blizzcon 2009 Diablo III Q&A video on Youtube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 * Interview with Lead World Designer Leonard Boyarsky and Lead Artist Christian Lichtner at AtomicMPC.com.au * WOW/D3 Q&A at EscapistMagazine.com * Hands-on previews: IGN.com, GameSpy.com, gameplanet.co.nz, Shacknews.com * Interview with Julian Love and Kevin Martens at Diii.net. * Interview with Jay Wilson at IGN.com ;August 23, 2009 * Transcript of the Diablo III open Q&A at Blizzcon at Diii.net ;August 22, 2009 * Preview of the D3 demo at Blizzcon at 1up.com * Four new pieces of environmental concept art: 1, 2, 3, 4 * Video of the Heroes and Monsters panel on Youtube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 * Recap of the Heroes and Monsters panel at Blizzard.com. * Diii.net articles following the first day of Blizzcon:Why the Monk?, D3 Character Panel, Skill Improvements, Diablo III Fact Sheet ;August 21, 2009 * Three new pieces of concept art: File:Borderlands1.jpg, File:Borderlands2.jpg, File:Fist_weapons.jpg * The official Diablo III website has also been updated with an article on the Borderlands. * Sneak Peak Diablo III Q&A at Blizzcon.com * Two pieces of concept art depicting monsters: Morlu Caster and Desert Wasp * One more screenshot and a piece of concept art of the Monk have been uploaded. They're both in the gallery on the Monk's article. * The Diablo III official site has been updated with a page on the Monk, but because of the great number of people trying to access it at the same time, the site is slow and may not load at all. * Monk Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_IIe4Wufyw * Monk trailer on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFGXKV_45HQ * Three screenshots of the Monk in action on its page. They are from the press CD, and have been uploaded by the guys from http://www.diablofans.com/ who are doing a live coverage of the event. Check it out! * The Monk has been confirmed during the opening ceremony at Blizzcon and is playable. * Diii.net has an article about the demo seen yesterday at the press meeting. It discusses the Witch Doctor's skills. * New Class: http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/characters/ The new class is called the Monk. Not much info on it more than that animation though. It apparently is not playable at Blizzcon and will be similar to the Paladin. *GameTrailers.com have taken down the videos of the demo at Gamescon, but they are still available on Youtube: 1, 2 ;August 20, 2009 * Some new Youtube videos of the Diablo III demo: 1, 2, 3 * GameInformer.com has an article about the playable demos at Gamescon 2009, among them being Diablo III * Screenshots of the demo at Diii.net: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 * Some of the new monsters that can be encountered in the demo: Sand Wasps, Lacuni Huntress, Lacuni Warrior, Tomb Viper, Enraged Spirits, Frozen Mage, Dune Dervish * An article at Diablofans.com discusses the apparent return of the tetris inventory system among others. * Diablo III fact sheet at Diablo3x.com ;August 19, 2009 * 4Players.de has a preview of the demo at Gamescon. The only problem: it's in German, but that's nothing Google Translate can't fix. * Two quality videos showing the male Wizard at GameTrailers.com: 1, 2 (removed) * Another hands-on preview from Gamescon, this time from IGN.com * The male Wizard is playable at Gamescon. * Youtube videos showing the demo: 1, 2, 3, and 4 * Photos and screenshots from the event at Diablo-3.net * Gamescon has started in Germany and Diablo III is playable. Coverage of the event: Kotaku, 1up.com ;August 18, 2009 * The Blizzcon site has been updated with a Floor Map and Schedules for the two day event. * The Diablo pins that will be awarded to the winners have been revealed: http://twitpic.com/earww ;August 15, 2009 *Blizzard has announced 3 Twitter contests, one for each of their feeds. The Diablo contest consists of naming your own unique item. The "most original, authentic and/or funny" names will be featured in Diablo III. Rules can be found here: http://www.blizzard.com/us/misc/contests/twitter/d3.html ;August 13, 2009 *You can now follow Blizzard on Twitter: @Warcraft, @Starcraft and, of course, @Diablo. ;August 8, 2009 *Ozzy Osbourne has been confirmed to be performing at BlizzCon 2009, which will take place on the 21st and 22nd of August. *Bashiok has confirmed the fact the the upcoming Patch 1.13 for Diablo will make respecing possible. July 2009 ;July 28, 2009 *Bashiok addresses concerns and rumors about class specific items, confirming some and dispelling others. Another post discusses difficulty in Diablo III. May 2009 ;May 28, 2009 *Bashiok talks about the Fallen's baldness and why their look has changed. Also Bashiok has changed his avatar, which depicts a Fallen Shaman: Old avatar; New avatar. ;May 22, 2009 *Bashiok has addressed in a forum post issues related to the animation of the Fallen Shaman seen on the official site. Another post is a response to a fan asking for scarier demons to be shown. *Blizzard announces the return of the Fallen Ones race of demons including 5 new monsters. They are the Fallen Imp, Fallen Shaman, Fallen Lunatic, Fallen Overseer, and Fallen Hound. Along with this bestiary update, several new pieces of artwork (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and 3 screenshots (1, 2, 3) have been added to the Media section. April 2009 ;April 1, 2009 *This year, Blizzard's April Fool's joke is the Archivist, a fake new class for Diablo III. March 2009 ;March 22, 2009 *Blizzard Entertainment is hosting a creative writing contest for each of their three franchises, including Diablo lore. Contestants are required to write a 3,000 to 10,000 word story set in one of the universes and submit it by April 12th. The grand prize is a trip to Blizzard headquarters where the winner will meet the lore writers, as well as win a Frostmourne sword. Seven runner-ups will win numerous lore products. Check out the official site for more details. Rules can be found here. ;March 4, 2009 *Blizzard still cares! They are collecting the largest cross section of improvements for V1.13 for Diablo II. Just head over to the forum and voice your opinion. January 2009 ;January 9, 2009 *The official Diablo III site has been updated with several new pieces of artwork and five new screenshots, including one mean looking boss! December 2008 ;December 11, 2008 *The official Diablo III site has been updated with three new pieces of artwork and seven new screenshots. ;December 8, 2008 * Bashiok posts a long post addressing many concerns about auto-stat allocation. November 2008 ;November 27, 2008 * Play.tm publish an interview with Jay Wilson they got at the Leipzig Convention in August. ;November 25, 2008 * Games Radar publish a Diablo III preview. Quite late and nothing really new. ;November 20, 2008 *Blizzard release BlizzCast Episode 6. The Diablo III section consists of an interview with Anthony Rivero, Senior Character Artist. At the end of this interview a new monster type was revealed, the Malformed. Not much is know about this monster except its name and appearance. Death animations, elixirs and item drops were discussed in the ending Community Q&A section with Jay Wilson. He has confirmed that ranged weapons don't require ammo, unlike Diablo II, in which bolts and arrows were needed. This system is reminiscent of Diablo I. ;November 18, 2008 * Mike Morhaime talks about WOW, Diablo III and other topics with MTV Multiplayer blog. The most interesting news for Diablo fans is the hint at multiple expansions for Diablo III. ;November 12, 2008 * Bashiok posts today on the Diablo III forums in three threads addressing some of the community's concerns and answering some questions: **First, he answers a question about monsters respawning on quitting a game. Bashiok post **He then answers some questions related to the new inventory system. Bashiok post **Finally, he addresses a suggestion about monsters being crippled. Bashiok post ;November 6, 2008 * Diii.net post another article based on the gameplay demo seen at Blizzcon. This time they talk about Wizard Gameplay October 2008 ;October 30, 2008 * Bashiok comments in a new forum post, the effect of environmental damage on players. * Diii.net continue posting articles about the demo at Blizzcon with an article on Witch Doctor Gameplay. ;October 29, 2008 * Diii.net post Part 1 of their Blizzcon Demo Report. Player-NPC interactions, dungeon randomization, and features that just help get the player into the game's setting are discussed. ;October 28, 2008 * Frank Pearce interviewed by GamesIndustry.biz. ; October 27, 2008 * PCGZine previews Diablo III. The magazine is available as a free pdf download. * Eminence Symphony Orchestra announces Echoes of War: The Music of Blizzard Entertainment, a 2-disc album and DVD package featuring a stirring collection of orchestral themes from across the Blizzard Entertainment universes. Disc 1 contains Warcraft tunes, Disc 2 contains Starcraft and Diablo tunes and Disc 3 contains a feature length documentary: Inside the Echoes of War. Also, the first print will contain exclusive content: 32-page booklet and 9 artcards. For a more comprehensive coverage see Music 4 Games' article on the subject. ; October 23 2008 * Blizzard has released a fansite kit containing logos, avatars, screenshots, basic .html and .css files and artwork, some of which are never seen before: Pit Flyer Spawner, Thousand Pounder, Triune Vessel, Triune Leader Death Guard, Leah above the meteor's crater, Blueprint/Sketch of Caldem, Interior of a building, Hanging bodies. * The official site updated again. This time with the New Tristram page with some cool animated ravens flying around and an eerie change of the musical score. Looks like there will be minor updates every Thursday folks. Stay tuned... ; October 21 2008 * Project_Xii strikes again! This time rambling about some of the Stupidest Features of Diablo II. Of course, those are his opinions and some well thought out ones at that. ;October 20, 2008 * After the great walkthrough of the D3 demo by MedievalDragon, Diii.net's Flux has followed up with his views on the Barbarian. Check it out for some new never-seen-before info. * Jay Wilson interviewed by G4 ;October 18, 2008 * The friendly internet psycopath from the Hellforge, Project_Xii has returned after absconding for a long while with a Top Ten Wanted and Unwanted Environments article. ;October 17, 2008 * Gallery of pics showing Diablo III's interface at joystiq.com. ;October 16, 2008 * This week's official site update was hardly noticeable. The update's on the Caldeum page. No new lore though, only a new animation of the Caldeum guards and some minor tweaking of the words. Maybe Blizzard decided to play it slow this week because of the outflow of info from BlizzCon. * IGN publishes a report that reveals that the next-gen Blizzard MMORPG which is in development is not related to the Warcraft series. What could it possibly mean??? * Bashiok makes a couple of posts today: ** Firstly, he says that Q&A threads don't fit Diablo and so he isn't going to do them; Bashiok post ** Lore is going to be told in game by listening to audio books, which can be paused and played anytime during the game; Bashiok post ** Immunities are going to be downplayed as a class' skills span the entire spectrum of elements. Bashiok post * Diablo III preview on Eurogamer.com. * Joystiq inteviews Rob Pardo about such topics as skill runes, skill trees and real-world trading of in-game items. ;October 15, 2008 * Wired.com interviews Rob Pardo. Among the topics touched were DRM, anti-hack methods, plans for Battle.net 2.0 and many more. * The polish site, Diablo3.battlenet.pl, gets an interview with Jay Wilson and Ray Gresko. The site is in Polish but the interview is in English. ;October 13, 2008 * Bashiok answers the community's concern in regards to the automatic stat allocation in a new forum post. * ShackNews does a post-Blizzcon wrap-up, gathering together bits and pieces to make a big list of things known about Diablo III. * IncGamers gets an Interview with Frank Pearce. He talks about all Blizzard products, including Diablo III. * Interview with Jay Wilson at IncGamers. In it he discusses the new attribute system, waypoints and many more. * Hands-On Gameplay Impressions at Diii.net. ;October 11, 2008 * The only Diablo-related panel on the second day of Blizzcon, Diablo III Lore & Art is available now as a video at Diablo III Database. * Diii.net and Planet Diablo cover the Diablo III Lore & Art panel. * Kotaku: Hands On With Diablo III: Everything Old Is New Again. * IGN: Rob Pardo on Diablo III. * Game Spy: Hands-on with Diablo III's Witch Doctor. * Today is the second day of Blizzcon. The Diablo III Lore & Art panel is the only Diablo-related presentation of the day. ;October 10, 2008 * Video of the press conference with Jay Wilson and J. Allen Brack at Diablo III database. * Diii.net gets an exclusive interview with Jay Wilson. * Video interview with Leonard Boyarsky and Ray Gresko on IncGamers.com. * The Diablo III panels from the first day of BlizzCon are available as videos: ** Opening Ceremony: IncGamers or alternatively Youtube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 ** Diablo III Class Design: Diablo III database or Youtube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and part of the Q&A at IncGamers. ** Diablo III Gameplay panel: Q&A at IncGamers: Part 1, Part 2. *Planet Diablo manages to get an interview with Jay Wilson. *Shacknews: Blizzard Discusses Diablo 3 Console Port and Blizzard on Battle.net Subscription, Diablo 3 Modding. * Diablofans.com: Jay Wilson announces news and Character Stat Assigning. * Video interview with Mike Morhaime on IncGamers.com. * Diii.net, Planet Diablo and Hellforge cover the Diablo III Gameplay panel. * Video footage of the first Diablo III panel, featuring Monster Deaths, Runes and Teleport uploaded to Youtube by DiabloFans.com. * Diii.net and Planet Diablo cover the Diablo III Class design panel. * The Wizard skill tree revealed by shacknews.com. * The Hellforge covers the Q&A session that just concluded at Blizzcon. * During the Diablo III Class design panel, Jay Wilson reveals the new skill rune system. Coverage at shacknews.com * The first impressions of the Wizard: Shacknews.com: New Diablo 3 Class Revealed: The Wizard, First Diablo 3 Hands-on Impressions: Hell Yeah, Game Spy: Diablo III: The Wizard Class Revealed, Hands-on with Diablo III's Wizard, Hellforge.com: New Class Revealed: The Wizard, IGN: Blizzcon 08: Blizzard Unveils Diablo III's Wizard, Kotaku: Diablo III's Third Class - The Wizard!, Diablo III's Wizard - Behind The Magic. * Diablo III preview, based the game demo available at BlizzCon, on Gamespy. * The official Diablo III site has been updated with a lore entry and an introductory video on the Wizard, four new pieces of artwork (1, 2, 3, 4) and thirteen new screenshots (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13). * From the press CD: Wizard gameplay trailer and 16 screenshots: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. * The third class is the Wizard. He is most like the Sorceress of Diablo II, using some of the same skills. Screenshot of the character selection screen showing the male and female versions of , Witch Doctor and Wizard classes. The male Wizard is faded because he isn't playable. * Diablo III is playable at BlizzCon!!! The Witch Doctor and the along with an entirely new class can be played in any of the demo machines in the Diablo floor in the Convention Hall. More will be revealed when the event starts, stay tuned... * Today is the first day of BlizzCon. Diablo III has two panels today: Diablo III Class Design and Diablo III Gameplay. Also, the Blizzard Sounds panel could feature some Diablo tunes. ;October 8, 2008 * Sol Invictus from the Diablo fansite, Diablofans has written an article about a hero, Sebastian Grey's Nostalgic Return to Tristram after the events of Diablo II at Gameriot's Hellforge. ;October 7, 2008 * Check out Gamespy's article regarding the possible new classes in Diablo III. We sincerely hope Blizzard does a much better job than them, as they said in their own words. * Bashiok hinted at monster infighting, but did not give any details in his new post. It may be possible that he is referring to the fight between the s and the Dune Thresher which may actually be reproduced in game or to some new random quest mechanic in which you help certain monster races defeat other races, or to this simple spell. * Diablo III's Graphical User Interface (GUI) is still under development, but Bashiok says that the core elements have been left unchanged, so major changes should not be expected, in another post. * The Battle.net forums have been updated and moved from www.battle.net/forums to forums.battle.net. This move includes the Diablo III forums. The old forum will be closed, but the threads in it will still be available until the 13th of October for archiving or backing-up threads. ;October 3rd, 2008 * A late addition to Thursday's update, a new piece of concept art of the has been uploaded to the concept art gallery of the official site. ;October 2, 2008 * Bashiok responded to questions about one of the new screenshots in a new post. He said that the character is a naked female Witch Doctor, winding up to throw a Skull of Flame, the new name for the Fire Bomb skill, but that those aren't the most important things that can be seen in the image. He might be referring to the fact that the well looks like the one in the center of Tristram, to the corpse in the upper part of the screen, the fact that it depicts a night scene or to the fact that the image seems very dark and gritty. * The Diablo III website was updated with a lore entry on s, who have been revealed to be the screechers from the Dune Thresher lore entry, seven new screenshots (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) and four new pieces of artwork (1, 2, 3, 4), the first of which is a new monster that looks eerily similar to the Dark Berserker monster class. It seems that new content is released every second Thursday. Hope to see more on the 16th folks. September 2008 ;September 29, 2008 * Bashiok posts on the forums about the new death mechanic. Death will not transport the player back to town, but to the last checkpoint with a small amount of health. Checkpoints are quicksave spots that are found throughout the game, and especially at the start of new levels. This decision is another departure from Diablo II, which may anger some old players. Bashiok post. ;September 27, 2008 * Bashiok is apparently taking Karune's lead and says that Diablo III Q&A sessions will hopefully be up after Blizzcon. Bashiok post. ;September 26, 2008 * "... We included car-jacking in it just last week." - Jay Wilson, a joke from the Interview with AusGamers ;September 25, 2008 * Spellbooks from Diablo I won't make a reappearance in Diablo III, as they would take away from the uniqueness of each class, Bashiok said today in a forum post. On a sillier note, Bashiok confirms it, guns will not be in D3. ;September 24, 2008 * Diablo III preview at Cheat Code Central. * Pertaining to something Jay Wilson said in an interview a week before gotgame compiles a list of classes that people will most surely hate. ;September 23, 2008 * "... The game is broken down into parts of 15 minutes..." - Jay Wilson, Interview at Buffed.de (German) (English Translations: 1, 2) ;September 22, 2008 * Another couple of posts cover a wide range of gameplay topics. The level-cap may have been raised to 100. It is unlikely that the grid-type inventory system, commonly called the Item Tetris, has been replaced by a Weight system seen in most RPGs, because the developers feel it would just complicate item values, because of the secondary value an extremely limited inventory would give to items. Bashiok also said that in spite of the many changes in the game, the core gameplay is going to be the same. Many more things are to be revealed about the game, remember that Blizzcon is just a couple of weeks away. * After a period of almost no new news, a new Bashiok post has revealed that Blizzard '' potentially could'' include future support for DirectX 10 in Diablo III. ;September 19, 2008 * A recent Bashiok post has given some insight into the new item viewing system. The players will still have to hold down the Alt-key to view items, but immediately after they drop, the item labels will be visible for a grace period of 5 seconds after which the player must hold down the Alt-key to see the labels again, without hovering the mouse over the items. Looks like a very intuitive system. ;September 18, 2008 * The official site has been updated with a bestiary entry on Dune Threshers and four new screenshots (1, 2, 3, 4) and four pieces of artwork (1, 2, 3, 4). Another type of monsters revealed in this update were the Crater Assault Troops, but only as a single piece of artwork. ;September 16, 2008 * The friendly neighborhood psychopath, Project_Xii strikes gold again in his new article, the The Top Ten Douchebags in the Diablo series at the Hellforge. * "... We're trying to close all the loose ends from the previous games..." - Jay Wilson and Leonard Boyarsky, Interview at AbleGamer.com * "... Diablo III isn't just a rehash of Diablo II..." - Jay Wilson, Interview at VideoGame.com ;September 15, 2008 * The Hellforge's Project_Xii has followed up with yet another article, this time covering all of the series' installments, in a very thought provoking Top Ten Coolest Moments in the Diablo series. * Bashiok has posted a reply to question about blood splatter and decals. They have a new corpse fading mechanic and some new info regarding the Wretched Dead. The monster has a skill that can spill toxic vomit all over the place, damaging players. Also, Bashiok revealed that the official site will be updated on Thursday. Read more on Bashiok's forum posts page. ;September 12, 2008 * Bashiok posted on the Wow forums about the current status of chests in Diablo III. He said there will be no more locked chests and the chests that currently are in-game have become rarer and drop better loot than in previous games. See Bashiok's post. * A now deleted Bashiok post has revealed that the blue glow in the shields of the Skeletal Shieldmen are a status indicator that shows how close their shields are to breaking after blocking a fixed number of hits. After their shields have been broken, they will revert back to normal Skeletons. The glow also serves to better distinguish the Shieldmen from other Skeletons. * Jay Wilson talks about Health Orbs, randomization of dungeons and exterior settings, story and player-NPC interaction in a video interview with TV7Games.se ;September 11, 2008 * "...it seems like there’s going to be a fair amount of Deckard Cain (in Diablo III), which is always a good thing." - Michael Gough, the voice of Cain, Interview at MTV's Multiplayer Blog. * "Diablo III has '''unique needs' for Battle.net 2.0."'' - Frank Pearce, Interview at VG247. ;September 10, 2008 * The is the only class to come back from prior games, but “we might look at including one or two of the old classes too in the expansion, but that's too far off to think about right now.” Seemingly, Blizzard has an expansion already planed for Diablo III. Read more of what Bashiok has to say in an [http://www.incgamers.com/Games/1935/features/90/Diablo-III-Inforview inforview on IncGamers]. * As a fitting follow-up to his earlier compilation, Hellforge's Project_Xii has compiled a Top Ten Monster Farewells list. ;September 6, 2008 * Project_Xii writes a Top Twenty Spoken Phrases from the Diablo Series article on Hellforge. ;September 5, 2008 * "Diablo III to have almost the same amount of randomness as in Diablo II." - Jay Wilson, Interview at Crispy Gamers. * The island in the artwork has been confirmed to be the Amazonian Island of Skovos. Though not present in-game, it was created to display how much effort the D3 team is putting in to flesh out the game world, Bashiok post. * The official Diablo III site updates with a new canon Timeline, 4 new pieces of concept artwork (1, 2, 3, 4), and 4 new screenshots (1, 2, 3, 4). ;September 4, 2008 * "All NPCs view different classes differently." - Leonard Boyarsky, Interview at GameBanshee. ;September 3, 2008 * Item drop sounds are being re-recorded. And there are plans to make the higher quality magic items have more distinct drop sounds. Diablo II legacy, the art controversy, Blizzard's take on consoles, failing clones and Diablo III class roster were also discussed by Jay Wilson in an interview with Gameinformer * The Hellforge compiles a list of Top ten Monsters they'd like to see returning in D3. Must read. * IncGamers MMO weekly on Battle.net and features. ;September 2, 2008 * The Diablo III Overture has been released free of charge at the iTunes Store, but only for US accounts. Those who can should get it now while the offer still stands. Along with it, the Diablo II Soundtrack and others were released, but for sale, not free. * Skewed and Reviewed talks with "some Blizzard guy" on Health Orbs, Potions and dungeon traps. * Jay Wilson talks about randomness, the art controversy, probable Hardcore mode, Health Orbs 25-35% droprate and gives some info on PvP in a video interview with Gamereactor. ;September 1, 2008 * Diii.net on Battle.net 2.0 confirmed features. * Jay Wilson video interview with TenTonHammer.com on general Diablo III development. Category:News